Stacy Summary: The Naked Capitalism post discusses something that Max and I ask frequently on our radio show – where is the outrage? I don’t get it how Americans seem so docile in the face of the theft, but I think it goes with the “conspiracy theory” meme. Meaning that large chunks of the ‘intellectual class’, for example, determine that it is a conspiracy theory to say that the President would order troops onto US soil. So when information emerges that indicates Cheney tried to order troops deployed to act as police, an important part of the media have already dealt with the possibility in their head as something that only wackos care about, so they do nothing. Regarding the docility in the face of crimes against their wealth, most are also brainwashed by media and friends that to protest as Europeans do is ‘socialist’ or ‘anti-capitalist.’ Also, when the top bosses of pension funds are still receiving multi-million dollar bonuses despite wiping out your pension fund, many Americans don’t say anything because they hope to be that pension fund boss that can similarly operate in this manner and so don’t want any regulation to stop it. That’s my Sunday morning theory . . . what do you think?
- Man passes out in underwear atop Wall St Bull (h/t Madge)
- Why are North Americans so un-outraged at theft of their pensions? (Naked Capitalism)
Updates:
A $13 trillion tax rebate program would instantly revive this economy, a refund of three years income taxes to every household, with a minimum payment of $50,000. Half the rebate should be required to pay back debt, which would clean up credit markets, and restore capital levels, asset quality, and liquidity of lenders.
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Only one person seemed to think that they themselves may be missing something, or that the question may only help promote a limited postion or point of view…maybe try asking ‘is it right to expect people to be as angry as me’ or ‘how do I get people to be as angry as me’ or ‘why do I feel this angry’…maybe the answers to these questions could produce more useful or positive solutions than the same people asking ‘why is nobody angry’ over and over to the same people who shrug and give the same ‘perfectly brilliant, and plausible’ replies…while having very little real personel success..if you really wanted to know why people won’t listen..then you ask someone who knows how to make people listen….rather than those people being ignored…then all we have to do is find someone who really knows how to work a crowd into a rage like….ok I might need to think this through a bit more…or less I’ll get back to ya….Peace Y’all
@Dedo, Richard: Thanks for your thoughts. I agree!
@Everyone: There are some videos to angry Americans on DrudgeReport this very morning. Seems healthcare is hitting a nerve!
That sounds like a perfectly brilliant, and plausible, explanation. A perfect example: Back in the late ’90s, a national news incident occurred in Nashville, TN, when the Army’s Special Activity (those “black helicopter” boys) conducted a weekend military invasion exercise in the Nashville’s financial district.
The mayor of Nashville was meant to be notified about this exercise, but somebody or ‘bodies screwed up, and the city officials thought it to be an actual terrorist strike.
Upon contacting the governor, who contacted the White House, they found out it was just the Army or DOD’s screwup. The very next Monday the Pentagon gives a televised press briefing, apologizing for this incident and stating that they had successfully conducted “black helicopter” exercises, without a hitch, in 23 American cities to date.
About a week later, Cokie Roberts (newsy airhead extraordinaire) began her Sunday morning show making fun of all those people who believe in “those black helicopters” – completely oblivious to current and topical news events (as if there’s any MSM newsies who actually are anything other than OBLIVIOUS!).
In the immortal words of Jimmy Buffett:
“Is it ignorance or apathy? I don’t know and i don’t care.” “Math sucks.” “Why don’t we get drunk?”
1. they don’t understand. most find economics boring. national debt, deficits, inflation, insolvent – they get bored and/or intimidated and tune out when they hear these words, at their own peril. (and it’s not boring.)
2. they think their situation is an isolated incident. they don’t understand how the macro policy has f’d them up royaly. they don’t see it as possible that they lose their job as the direct result of the banksters and fed.
3. they don’t want to be perceived as angry or extremist by their friends. they posture themselves as “above the fray” while they’re being robbed blind.
4. they want to think happy thoughts.
5. the unseen. the unfelt. most don’t feel or see what they’re being robbed of. most don’t know or understand the things that they will never have. the politicians steal trillions from us, then neutralize and zombify us with some food that they bought with this money. give me bread and i am happy.
6. they can’t comprehend the big numbers. 1 trillion is the amount of seconds in 32,000 years! what does that mean to you? to some it means go buy a gun. to others it means roll over in bed.
7. they think the guys in washington d.c. are looking out for them and want the best for their lives and aren’t a pack of low-life scoundrels.
Ooohhh my favourite..the smell of burning martyrs.. listen to the enlightened 1% wail and moan…again..and again…
Look you chose your mission now get on with it!…or a you all a bunch of bong smoking navel gazers …damn where are the real revolutionary types when you need them…Or consider this maybe people do just find you boring (it’s time to work on your presentation, try throwing bananas or something…maybe grow a sexy ‘che’ goatee) or maybe you are a bunch of nutters….me personally I’d run a mile if any of you started a conversation about the economy while I’m trying to party (or while trying to cope with the stress of a family get together)…and if I even sniff any of that ‘them and us’ ‘deluded masses’ ‘sleeper’ bullshit you are all so attached to I’d….well it wouldn’t be nice let’s put it that way…amazing isn’t it..to be so ‘aware’ and enlightened yet so many are devoid of the basic ability to relate to your fellow man on the same level…I think some of you have forgotten economics/politics will never do anything other than reduce your social standing or status…deal with it…Peace .
PS @JK @mep and All Y’all…keep on keeping on.
I don’t think that the average American understands what is really
going on. They just hear or watch the news that is fed to them
by the major media outlets.
This makes for a very uninformed public. Hell I was never taught
where money originates from. So much for the educational system in the U.S.
I don’t see things moving in the direction of real change,
until Americans learn the scam that the Gov’t and the Federal Reserve have been perpetrating. Inflation without representation. Go figure.
Kick the crooks out of Congress and the Senate except for Ron Paul.
No great outrage because, as in musical chairs, the music is still playing for most people…
Wait till the music stops and we are short a few chairs…
Stacy – It’s a bit like in Egypt. 80% of the people are focused on day-to-day survival and do not have the time, energy or resources to counter the government. They may despise the government but are too busy surviving.
@Tom:
Americans use Federal Reserve notes and the dollar destroys your whole premise for your tidy petition. The notes are controlled by foreign powers, and we citizens receive much favor and reward for accepting the tokens as currency.
The idea that citizenship can be revoked for arbitrary ruling is the worst tyranny.
@Stacy:
Americans are taught that our society is “free” and people get what they deserve. Remember that greed and hedonism were the gambits of the past ten years. Remember Arnie’s admonition: environmentalism and hedonism can coexist:
http://www.newsweek.com/id/35594
WELL, the truth is that environmentalism and human hedonism are antithetical and Americans don’t want to accept truth. California is the pointer state for a wholistic deception rampant in America. The book The Secret has done become a thoughtforce, and heaven help those who point out that 2 + 2 cannot conceivably equal 10. The government steals with the banksters and fraudsters and the public remains staring, paralyzed, waiting for the intermission, unable to accept real anymore. Remember the book The Bell Curve?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bell_Curve
The book defines the classic American outlook to success and race. The fact that the book proliferated so remarkably well (even now Americans believe college will equal success and are sinking money into degrees) does not speak well of Americans egalitarian ideals. (In fact, IMHO, American’s are not egalitarian AT ALL)…
Anger is brewing, not with the circumstances overhead, but with the fact that these mythical unicorn kingdoms are now falling from the sky.
@Nancy: Agree…Remember the Matrix movie, it was only after Neo took the red pill that the world he was used to dissolved and the destructive world that really existed appeared….call it gloss….The same with Sarah Connors in the Terminator movies…and that is how it is today…we worked so hard to achieve a comfort zone…please, they are saying, don’t burst my bubble that all is well and manageable…..let the thieves remain at the helm and give them all the rope they need…we are the fall guys if one agrees that it is a Ponzi scheme and in the least a fraud….But they are saying that it’s our fraud let it play out…of course they are wrong but neither you nor I can tell them differently. maybe that’s why Max promotes street theater… http://www.poopmail.com ???? What is that???? Really Max??? Is that the ammunition that we are to put in our guns?? Is this the new anthrax??? Poop???? ( there was a small riot in a pre-incarceration jail once where one of the inmates left a 6″ turd on the inside door handle,,that really repulsed the guards). Ralph Nader held a street demonstration in front of Wall Street months ago and behind him was a blow up doll of uncle Sam….great street theater….So no violence…dissent is very Americana….prepare..prepare…preapare
@Nancy,….I agree, it’s not, and never has been because folk are stupid or necessarily lazy,…just that they have been conditioned to think and behave the same,.. as most folk on this site know, but choose to ignore!
We all learn from our surroundings and peers, it’s just a small percentage are more self conscious (aware) of certain agenda’s in others. Bit like the wild animal that still has it’s natural survival instincts intact,.maybe.
Americans are not upset because for the most part, they have not yet SEEN or FELT the loss. They feel that “some way” things will return to normal. Uncle Sam will figure it out! He’s got all the power anyway, and we must be a smarter people ’cause, hey, we’re not effed up like the third world. They do not recognize the wealth of the past 30 years or so was not real, they just know they get bigger houses, more iPods, more vacations every year. They do not care about adding in the debt to the equation. There is no shame to debt anymore. They do not factor in inflation–that’s a fogotten issue. We fixed that problem, right? Somehow…Well, that was back in the 70s. Pensions? They are still paying out the same amounts–for now. Social Security, too. Jobs–most still have them or expect the economy will turn around soon and “something” will come along to employ the unemployed. I work with a lot of people convinced its time to buy houses. The market–it’ll go back up, and for now, it sure appears that way. But tell them it is govt-manipulated and will crash again and no one listens. Tell them housing may stop bottoming in a few years but it certainly will not shoot back up. Tell them the govt lies about inflation numbers, GDP numbers, unemployment numbers and they shrug it off. Many may believe our govt cheats like all govts., but will not believe they will screw the US hard, cause they have never “seen” it happen. Most will never believe Pearl Harbor and 911 were not total surprises. JFK–shot by a lone nut. Give them links to articles, videos from Max, Alex, Bob, etc etc etc, and the most you get it mild interest, until they run it by some lame family member with a real estate license who tells them gold is a loser and hey, it’s a great time to buy a house! And I am sad about it because they are not dumb in a lot of ways, they work hard, know their jobs well, but becuase they won’t take a few minutes a day to read up on the markets, their 401Ks and pensions get ripped out from under them in a day or two, never to return. Years of work.
Everyone I talk to on the subject of the economy either -doesnt want to talk about it – thinks everything is fine-or is in major resistance .the guy who sells bullion locally for 35 years supported ghouleeani watches fox and cnbc and is buying automatic weapons and ammo – where I live ammo and assault weapons are in high demand ammuinition is being rationed to 2 boxes per family when you can find it
re: “how Americans seem so docile in the face of the theft”
Two things:
Every newspaper, blog and financial news site that I read that allows reader comments is chock full of outrage — but this is the only place in the media where you’ll even see it. The mainstream corporate news media will not show — or even acknowledge — any outrage on the part of the American people, in the same way that the millions who marched in protest of the Iraq War were ignored. Americans, who are indeed outraged, are made to feel isolated and quite alone in these feelings.
The other aspect is college campuses which, unlike the 60s, are now filled with docile, sheltered, empty-headed kids who were raised on Sesame Street, Ritalin and “time outs” — sadly, by the same radicals who were the ones driving the mass protest movements of the 60s.
Oh, and sodium flouride is added to various municiple water supplies here in North America, except to those cities that have had long term studies completed. The people of North America are under the influence of various toxins through the legalized1 supply of their governments and the powers that be. I have worked hard to get all toxins out of my own personal environmnet, but most people just think I am nuts. Unflouridated water, no leach cookware, no toxic pharmaceuticals, organic & local food supply, etc, and it’s hard work to accomplish this feat in the Land of Monsanto.
I’ve spoken with nurses that think the h1n1 is bullshit, and especially since there is no-fault insurance in both the US & Canada for any vaccine injury. Our powers that be are getting increasingly desparate and will continue their facisinista way until their power base of money and medicines run out. Then, as North Americans, we should choose the Ghandi option of saying, “we don’t think it’s okay to go around the world and dictate to other people how they should live”.
I find it hard to avoid the powers that be, but it’s very satisfying when it happens. Vote with your money.
I remember what Max said to the Parisean Professor about having Stockholm Syndrome, the illness to love your captors. I guess this Obama camp really has its sublime bottomline in check. Anyone think maybe 3% of the American population has the ability to see the rational through the nonsense? If so, the decline is already underway and some people are prepared. Some, not all 30 billion. However, 3% can upset the oligarchy kart. 100th monkey effect.
@dedo – hehe I like those kinds of videos, here is another good one: Test Your Awareness : Whodunnit? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubNF9QNEQLA
As Gerald Celente says; we don’t need Wal-Mart, we need Mom & Pop shops. It seems like that is the next trend to come – only with a twist. People are getting tired of impersonal cloned shops like starbucks forcing them to close down. Rising up from the ashes are is new ‘genuine’ shops with a personal feeling to it, the real friendly mom & pop shop. Sounds like a great change don’t you think? Now, what if these new mom & pops really are the same chain of stores formally known as Starbucks, how would you feel about that? The new shop sells the same thing as the old shop did only now it is more personalized, taking away anything that hints “big corporation” and replacing it with “mom and pop” feeling. The new business concept is born but would we fall for it? Would we see the change? and would Gerald Celente be furious about it??
Here is the headline and link (though the main story is a bit older):
Neighbor: Starbucks stole my ambiance
http://www.seattlepi.com/business/408205_starbucks17.html
How Do You Disguise a Starbucks Store? Like This…
http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/kit-eaton/technomix/how-do-you-disguise-starbucks-store
– I like this weblogs take on it: “… It’s a bit like finding out that your favorite small-label French champagne is actually made by Coca Cola, and bottled in St. Louis …”
Stacy Mitchell: Starbucks Goes Stealth with Unbranded, “Local” Cafes
http://www.beaconbroadside.com/broadside/2009/07/stacy-mitchell-starbucks-goes-stealth-with-unbranded-local-cafes.html
– This weblog says it all; “…This is the latest, and arguably most audacious, in a string of corporate attempts to imitate and co-opt local-ness …”
The three point attack to put Americans in a coma
1. Fluoride http://www.fluoridealert.org/50-reasons.htm
2. TV ( The Bernays sauce if you will)
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2641575773935962254
3. Low money down, easy financing, flex-pay…i.e. lots of funny money for the casino.
With these tools in hand a nation will eat its own foot,, and ask for mint sauce !
I think spending so much time in Europe you’ve perhaps forgotten how unsocial many Americans and their culture is. In Europe your home is where you sleep and do a little, while the community is where you do the rest. In the US the home is like a base where people do almost everything under an illusion of independence. (this partly explains the size of their homes and their capacity to consume since they “need” one of everything). Americans don’t sit in outdoor cafes. They don’t have large social networks. They are so divided and isolated that organizing a protest or any meaningful action is nearly impossible because the relationships don’t exist and they don’t have the social skills or culture necessary to form them.
The making of a nation of “independent” individuals was the battle that lost the war for freedom in America. The rest is just mopping up.
I don’t see the assembly or the coming together of people in American to have a revolution. I get the feeling people are blinded about the facts or simply have other things to think about. Listening to the media there is no sense of a downfall, its always over there and not here. What I do see is group or gang violence as the technique for survival but the violence seems disconnected from any political or economic agenda. Yes some people do talk about how bad things are and know what is happening, however it’s merely just conversation and not taking action. I think there is a thought and constant reminder that keeps people from acting out because it could mean getting spontaneous shock therapy or being locked up. If by chance being homeless comes into the picture the voices go unheard. That’s one of the groups in America that drops off the charts.
Dow Jones going to zero? Did I catch that correctly (I AM tired..)?
How is that possible, what could be the implications of that (would on one side explain the bank holiday)…
Americans are asleep and do not want to be disturbed. Bring up a difficult subject, it is changed or ignored. No one beleves what is in our future. Massive decline and then masive taxes and generations of an economy the current generation does not understand because they refused to wake up to wake up and take a stand. I try, but I am iignored by goverment representives and friends and co-workers. It can’t happen to us, we are americans. Tough times are ahead. I hope is is not Christians who are picked for blame. We all know someone will pay wheather they deserve it or not.
Part of it is the corporate state that the States have become. The Power Elite have their propaganda channels (CNBC being one). What do they keep putting out? “Bad judgement” (everything that they did to cause this Global Depression) isn’t a crime? Right. For the rest of us, we’d be doing life behind bars. But for YOU, laws don’t apply.
Part of it is the mass apathy that the politicians deliberately manipulate because they know they can do it. What do many progressive chat hosts in the States say? We need to call our Senators and Representatives. We need to make ourselves heard? I guess because they’re all highly paid celebs, annoying things like being hung up on NEVER happen to them? And then Congresspeople wonder why their ratings suck.
Here, you can be tasered and arrested for just being in a place. You can be arrested for telling the VP you suck. You can be shot in the back and killed just because you’re a person of color. And what happens? The community screams. The cops (and the police union) naturally say these idiots just don’t understand how stressful our job is. An off duty African American cop is killed by several undercover white cops while chasing a guy who tried to steal his car. What does Obama do? He and his wife enjoy a taxpayer-paid weekend in NYC. NOT ONCE does he say anything about this? Why? Because he doesn’t know “all of the facts”? Because it’s not his place to do it? Because if he does say something the mostly White Power Elite will kill him?
Single payer health care is a human right. The powerful lobby that wants it killed is bribing key Congresspeople. The MSM makes much of its money thru ads from the lobby. So in this Global Depression the last thing they want to do is to lose that money. Which means that the MSM is a tool of the lobby to kill single payer. Does ANYBODY ever say that (other than yours truly)? No.
Reagan era racism is alive and well. Try doing a You Tube search on anything Obama related. And see how many times the N word is used? I thought You Tube had rules against crap like this. But what’s their excuse? We can’t possibly monitor all content all the time. Actually you could. If you wren’t so freaking cheap you could hire cops to police this stuff. But naturally you won’t do it.
Sick racist crap like this is a ratings goldmine for the MSM. The FCC does what exactly? There is no Fairness Doctrine or regulation. If I say Obama should be killed, the Secret Service will find me and take me away. If a MSM “pundit” does it, it gets tons of hits on Huffington Post and is “analyzed” on all the talk shows.
If Obama believes in change, then how come he hasn’t overturned any of the Previous Guy’s Executive Orders, the Patriot Act and all the rest of it?
Heres one solution to the root cause of the problem, TONA2009. TONA2009 a solution which will define if your loyalties lie in the values of the US Constitution, or its usurpation.
http://www.petitiononline.com/tona2009/petition.html
“If any citizen of the United States shall accept, claim, receive, or retain any title of nobility or honour, or accept and retain any present, pension, office, or emolument of any kind whatever, from any emperor, king, prince, foreign power, or secret society, such person shall cease to be a citizen of the United States, and shall be incapable of holding any office of trust or profit under them, or either of them.” (this is a copy of the original 13th Amendment with the inclusion of “secret societies” only)
An idea held in the heart and soul is a weapon that no army can conquer.
The United States of America need not fight wars for global domination it simply must restore its original purpose, which is not commercialism. America once again must become the bastion of freedom, equality and justice. America once again must offer its citizens real property and real money. If the American people were to be given the ability to acquire real property and trade their labor for real money again within one generation we would see an outpouring of individuality that no commercial interest could ever sway.
Game Over.
For Americans whom wish to reassert their standing for posterity please acknowledge.
http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/iou/
For those non-Americans whom wish to have the same rights afforded to them as US Citizens do from its Bill of Rights, please hold true and promote these ideals. I will fight for any person whom holds these ideals true, no-matter what nation has claimed them. Nationality is not important only ideology.
http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/Ideclare
Please do not consider these as petitions, instead consider them as “lines in the sand”. Lines that you will never cross, lines that you will always defend.
United we stand, divided we fall.
“but, nevertheless, the protests almost always succeed in preventing politicians and/or corporations from acting against the wishes of the population.”
Protests do not have that result in the USA. There are many reasons for this.
There can be no solidarity because one side has been played against another and we have been “balkanized” into a thousand little groups and ideologies.
We have had many huge protests, large numbers present, but still we are pigeon holed and labeled and then ignored.
People have under so many false influences. The U.S. Constitution was a solid, noble, albeit imperfect document. Gradually, the Constitution and the rule of law has been dissolved into nothing. Our “represenatives” vote in one totally unconstitutional, freedom destroying, law after another.
The philosophical foundations of our Bill of Rights and Consitution is the only possible thing that could really bind the people together toward action, and those foundations have been eviscerated over the years.
There is a conspiracy. It is of long term and it appears to be working its near-end-stage maneuvers and strategies on the USA and the world right now.
Really, I do not think the situation in Europe is that much better. I remember that there were hundreds of thousands of people in anti-Iraq war protests in 2003 all over Europe and Asia, as well at the USA, some estimating totals nearing half a million people. But we were all ignored. USA and England and other countries joined in on the USA attacks of March of 2003 against Iraq, and really also earlier, right after 9-11-01, on Afghanistan. The people of all those other countries were totally ignored.
Americans took our freedom and our wealth for granted for many years and that is why we are where we are now.
I would observe that Americans seem more attuned to what freedom is than Europeans.
He who holds the gold rules. The world’s oligarchs intend to continue to precipate and orchestrate phony wars for their consolidation of power.
The government and the corporations are one and the same. Fascism everywhere.
The idea of national sovereignty and freedom under the rule of law of each separate sovereign nation is almost a humorous fading thing of the past. The strict construction of the U.S. Constitution is sort of a joke now too.
In the years when we all should have been hypervigilant, we were not, and that is why things have quietly progressed to the dire crisis stage we now have.
Freedom and honesty is very much intertwined with the topics on this blog – money, economies, finance.
Frederick Bastiat – The Law
Tells us that real wealth is production. The USA government has for more than half a century rewarded companies for move their factories out of the USA to foreign countries. They have deliberately killed our productive industrial capacity. (see O.P.I.C. Federal agency as example)
The idea in our localities is to CONTROL us and every aspect of our lives. To utterly control our every thought, word, and deed. The local crooks are continually setting us up to destroy us and our ability to produce and enjoy private property and the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
To me, the fact that almost all people working for the government, or the big corporations are implementing the totalitarian police state and crafity and continually setting us up to further the implementation on all fronts, shows the fact that it is a true massive worldwide conspiracy. The whole thing has been diabolitcally engineered and moved forward over the centuries. The clamp-down and ruination hitting all of us on all sides now is not simply random. It is brilliant and blatant.
Here are my reasons why there’s no revolt:
Lack of Knowledge. Most people don’t follow the news. So they don’t even know what’s happening, and the news they get is headline stuff.
Training. People in the U.S have no sense of collectivism. Even on the way down, it’s all about looking out for #1.
Food, food, food. Fastest route to revolution is unavailable food. And agribusiness/gov. subsidies have made sure we have plenty of low-priced food available.
If they don’t stand up; let them burn…
Nothing will be done in the USA until it becomes Venezuela of 1986-1995; when 50%+ of the American middle class is totally wiped out.
Change will not occur until they lose all hope that the current system will “reform” itself and they stop believing that they will win the magic “lottery ticket” to the “American Dream of Prosperity”
thx
ntm
@Pervy – tell us what @Dedo’s link is all about!
I’m not even talking revolution though. I mean, the dozens and dozens of large and small scale protests that I have seen in Paris over the past five years are seldom violent against property, which let’s face it is the only violence from protesters you ever see these days; but, nevertheless, the protests almost always succeed in preventing politicians and/or corporations from acting against the wishes of the population. It doesn’t force, violence or socialism for that matter, it just takes solidarity it seems from what I observe in France.
I mean it,.!! Leave the link alone
This is for PervySage,…NO ONE ELSE!!
http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Conformity_bounce_theory
“Americans seem so docile in the face of the theft”
Well, as one who has been in the conspiracy corner for nigh on to 12 years, left me give this American’s take on it.
I have been somewhat of an activist and held a sign and stood out in front of my state capitol 3 hours every Saturday for one full year with a large sign that on one side said 9-11 = Inside Job and the other side — Troops Home Now.
Lots of people came up and called me horrible names, including “UnAmerican bitch” and the old favorite “conspiracy theorist.”
I still stand out in front of the capitol and with my many signs regarding other issues.
Why do I do this? Because I do not want to only express “outrage”, I want to “do something” that makes me feel like I am “doing something”.
It is good to try to find ways to express your outrage that will satisfy that need to feel like you are actually “doing something.” I do not want to just rant and rave and express outrage by calling in to radio shows, or by writing or calling my “elected represenatives”. Our “represenatives” know full well how the public views the major issues and no number of phone calls or letters or faxes or emails phases them. They blithely continually ignore we the people.
Alex Jones often does intertaining rants expressing his “outrage”. It is a shame someone with such insight on the issues has now resorted to histrionics and hawking sales of good based on fear.
I “woke up” a long time ago. I am well read and well informed and educated on the issues about which I am supposed to express outrage.
I am a Christian and try to pray about these matters and find guidance as to forms of action to take that may be God honoring and may be a meaningful “protest” expression.
I do have outrage and I know I will internalize my anger and experience clinical depression if I do not find a way to take control of my outrage and channel it.
People with at least a couple of brain cells know and see what is happening. But most Americans are materialistic and superficial and very psychologically invested in their money, status, jobs, and possessions. So they are not able to face the reality of our loss of sovereignty and freedom and the moving in to a totalitarian police state. They go in to denial and find ways to support their denial by lashing out at people who try to speak out and “protest” on the realities. One form of persecution I experiences that I thought was so interesting was that people would try to corral my dissatisfactions in to the “you hate George W. Bush – that’s all you’re really about”.
I know that my phsically fighting would be a futile joke. I feel that the window where we at least have a few First Amendment rights is rapidly closing. We have to go for broke.
My favorite thing to do is sort out how our traitor US congress members voted on the major bills and I identify by name the ones I determine made the vote come out against the wishes of the citizens. I blast those names out by calling in to radio shows and posting on various places on the web.
It would be stupid to physically fight, though that may the honorable way to go – to go down fighting. So what I do is find out the names of the liars, crooks and traitors and expose their names in my small circle of influence. Expose the doers of evil BY NAME, the doers of unrighteousness and EXPOSE their evil deeds. (Ephesians 5). To me, That is the most light giving helpful thing I can do with my “outrage.”
Dedo,
Hmmm… your posit sounded almost rigorous. Please, you
have any backup?
-pervy
Dedo,
Please more on the classroom theory. Links?
Cant you see TV turns us into one giant classroom?
Why I’m playing hooky…
-pervy
Hi Stacey,
I agree with Youri: the compartmentalization is horrible. Nevertheless, I’ve had the opportunity recently to clear (1) a hot tub of 6 people in 15 seconds (2) my front yard of 3 people in 10 sec and (3) my office of 5 people in 1 min just by bringing up the economy. No crazy stuff, just bring it up, and some folks act like you started talking about your perverted sex life — so there is certainly a “its too painful for words” component as well.
-pervy
Same in Australia.
I talk about this stuff to people and they just try and change the subject.
I find I have to back off as it freaks some people out.
Started to date a girl once who didn’t want to talk about politics, economy, anything that was too difficult. Needless to say it lasted one date. She is happy somewhere
So now I just talk to you guys Hahahhahaha!
@Max & Stacy: great question….as for the Swedish language post in the prior post…well…I need a translator…
Last night Bob Chapman appeared on the C2Cam show and as always point by point described what exactly is /has transpired on Wall Street and the collusive nature of the regulatory agencies and the adverse actions taken by Congress since 1980….He generally points out that the worst is still in front of us…no surprise…and that the core fundamentals that brought us to this epochal disaster are very much still in place…the continued high leveraging ( 40:1-70:1); the derivative market remains in place; no one has really been investigated for fraud/corruption; the circular movement of capital from the TARP bailout type programs ( now estimated @$14- $23.7 trillion) to the banks and then parked at the FED @ interest…the $500 billion to foreign central banks, the FED’s monetization of CDO’s and the like; the enormous amount of Treasury bonds @ auction; and as so many States are near bankruptcy the potential for higher taxes and higher fees. and on and on….When asked about revolution in the streets he was hedging…which brings me to your contention that Americans have become docile…that can be explained by Thorsten Veblem treatise ( circa 1900) The Theory of the Leisure Class, that suggested that unlike a bright line which would lead to class warfare and conflict as described in Marx/Lenin, the under class aspires to the become the wealthy and thus emulates the wealthy in hope that they too will one day become wealthy…
From my point of view, all these WS designed methods of securitization will remain in tact and be made available to the Chinese to bolster the appearance that their economy is growing by leaps and bounds and that the folks who invest in merging markets globally, as they are called, will have another hay day, ala Peter Schiff, Jim Rogers and those who favor investments outside the US/EU…In the mean time the US will slog along while the media proclaim a BULL market has returned. Remember GS CEO Blankfein was interviewed while attending the Lake Como economic summit last summer (2008) and said that he was more interested in the Chinese GDP than US unemployment figures…that should have been a clue that the US economy was set to dump!!!!!
Wish you both every success, and a time for yourselves to recharge in Nice or where ever wealthy ex-pat Americans travel to these days.HA!!
Here’s a good example of how folk are easily misled if they’re not paying attention!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yGX–jibXQ
The anger might come when everyone agrees on the person or group who will then symbolise everything that went wrong. Just look at history.
By the way,…..you have to guess what goes on the end
My apoligies to Blindweb for this post,.: )
The conformity bounce theory hypothesizes that in a classroom consisting of any given number of students (), only a certain number of original ideas and/or valid discussion points () will be able to survive. Furthermore, the theory states that these two numbers are directly proportional, and that the ratio is incredibly small. If the exact mathematics behind the theory are are worked out, it becomes apparent that the intelligence of the students in the classroom and the skill of any teacher that may happen to be present are, surprisingly, totally irrelevant. The theory goes on to propose that any additional ideas that may otherwise have formed once the so-called “group knowledge limit” is reached become cancelled. [1] [3]Instead of actually contributing original material for discussion, therefore, students begin to restate the pre-existing expressed ideas. In small classes with ample time given for discussion, this can result in a single idea being restated hundreds of times over, and is a major cause of teacher suicide. These deaths are usually considered the results of an
@Youri Carma
Here is my opinion which is only in response to how I imagine many would understand the idea that ‘revolution comes from the intellectual “elite”.
It’s like I don’t think when a Swiss Man Yodels he brings down an avalanche, I think the avalanche will come when it will. I am talking about critical mass. Some days all the yodeling in the world won’t bring down the avalanche.
I imagine a lot of people aren’t so much brain washed as washed out. They just recognise that they are kind of comfortable in the system but still know it’s screwing them. Let’s not forget a revolution is a risky bet held up against a pie, a beer and a bit of telly.
Now an empty belly and a too many injustices might pile up behind a revolution. Some intellectuals may be conveinently placed to jump to the front and claim the crowd behind is following their lead.
Like “I told you so now follow me”.
Up until then people aren’t going to wind themselves up with facing the reality of how skewed the system is. People end up being obliged to feed their familay first and don’t have the energy for beating their head against a wall. Leave that to the students and better off “intellectuals”. I was never quite so amazed as to noticed how many of the “revolutionaries” (you know the alphabet soup of communist parties in the Eighties and some of those “socialists” today) were well into getting houses and driving new cars.
Maybe I just believe the universe operates in a way which makes dicussions of causal connections too much a discussion about purpose. So any ‘theory’ or ‘hypothesis’ in the social sciences that claims to know how to interpret what goes on doesn’t get it about the madness of crowds.
Like revolutions start because a butterfly spreads it’s wings and stops when everyones attention is drawn to a cute little puppy.
I might be inclined to say revolutions stop the moment the intellectual elites get their hands on them.
@Mother Earth – my favorite: “It is massive prefrontal degeneration.” LoL.
Stacy, I think a lot of things. Here’s a short list:
- as you’ve said before, people scuttling off to tent cities are most likely in survival mode; many have probably lost their dignity and the will to express outrage
- in the US, we’re brainwashed into believing that one must always “think positive” or “be positive.” This, for example is the reasoning my aunt gave me for not going off the deep end when, after she retired, she lost a chunk of money, lost her health insurance, and stands to potentially lose 70% of her pension when it gets kicked over to the PBGC. She decided to stay positive and apply for big box store jobs (she was a high-level Delphi employee) so that she could afford her health insurance. Her attitude baffles me, but then again, it’s the same attitude she’s always had.
- people who have lost money might be getting some form of gov’t assistance, and may think it would be wrong of them to protest
- political reasons: a lot of folks falsely equate protesting with being against the current administration. (Our large labor unions would likely be organizing all kinds of marches if we had a Republican president.)
- we think that the only financial crimes are crimes against shareholders
- a quote from “Life Inc.”:
“As banks’ credit schemes fail, we authorize our treasuries to print more money on their behalf, at our own expense and that of our children. We then get to borrow this money back from them, at interest. WE KNOW OF NO OTHER WAY. (my emphasis.) Having for too long outsourced our own savings and investing to Wall Street, we are clueless about how to invest in the real world of people and things. We identify with the plight of abstract corporations more than that of flesh-and-blood human beings. We engaged with corporations as role models and saviors, while we engage with our fellow humans as competitors to be beaten or resources to be exploited.”
I think I agree with that. It’s like we lack the ability even to be outraged because our minds have become so corporatized that a lot of us are just rooting for share prices to recover–knowing (or thinking) that a rebound means more jobs. Free-market fundamentalism is sold to us as a form of patriotism, and it has become so ingrained that most of us are on the sidelines cheerleading for the very banks and corporations that tanked the economy rather than protesting about lost pensions. It wouldn’t only be “Euro-socialist” of people to protest, it would be outright un-patriotic.
-delusion. I know a bunch of people who think that their money is coming back.
BTW: 1.5 million Americans are set to lose their unemployment benefits: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/02/us/02unemploy.html
Reality TV in the UK http://tinyurl.com/mrahzn
now that a man has passed out on the wall street bull in his underwear the people will finally wake up and see clearly whats going on,.
@ Max and Stacy (Please remove other post sorry)
I’m sure you know this, but its nice to say it anyway.
There will be a time when everyone looks back on the economic and political events local and international to try and make sense of it all, in order to regain balance and sanity.
If your analysis remains accurate, then your accumulated material on here, will be very valuable in helping the world achieve this.
The great thing for you is in the end the madness of the mass works for you, That is being out of step with the main stream media, politics and crowd.
I’m sure many will share this experience when I say, I have great difficulty persuading or explaining what is happening to get friends or family or anyone to effect change and put into action, what they must do to protect themselves! I have found that the illusion, madness or delusion is so complete its near impossible to effect change in others.
I have to my shame failed completely to persuade anyone, anyone who was not already persuaded and have nearly capitulation as all I do when discussing such matters, is either, annoy, bore or at best provide entertainment as a fool.
When the Crowd decides what was seen as eccentric become wise fact like a switch flicking on and instantly forgotten. Then my exposure and knowledge and foresight of this process will in the end have changed me.
I think..
1. A divided mind has trouble to respond http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TzYVhEfg3U Jealousy is the main culprit.
2. The enemy succeeded in being ephimeral, anonymous, unlikely (pin stripe camouflage). As long as you want to take your behavioural example from them (the absent), you’ll be stuck in your own.
3. Maxes theory that the people bet on being a winner someday cuts wood. Desperation makes people impulsive, so more prone to gambling. It is massive prefrontal degeneration.
4. Social frame of reference. Maybey you saw the NZ video about the family slowly becoming homeless, or the UK ponzi victims. Their attitude was to wish the evil away, to stay on the moral upside and to not assume or adopt ‘criminal’ intent.
5. The MSM, Ratings require you to remain seated in front of the television. There should be ‘go outside and do something for your neighbour’ TV.
6. To fat and to dumb?
@ Max and Stacy
I’m sure you know this, but its nice to say it anyway.
There will be a time when everyone looks back on the economic and political events local and international to try and make sense of it all, in order to regain balance and sanity.
If your analysis remains accurate, then your accumulated material on here, will be very valuable in helping the world achieve this.
The great thing for you is in the end the madness of the mass works for you, That is being out of step with the main stream media, politics and crowd.
I’m sure many will share this experience when I say, I have great difficulty persuading or explaining what is happening to get them to effect change and put into action, what they must do to protect themselves! I have found that the illusion, madness or delusion is so complete its near impossible to effect change in others.
I have to my shame failed completely to persuade anyone, anyone who was not already persuaded and have nearly capitulation as all I do when discussing such matters, is either, annoy, bore or at best provide entertainment as a fool.
When the Crowd decides what was seen as eccentric become wise fact like a switch flicking on and instantly forgotten. Then my exposure and knowledge and foresight of this process will in the end have changed me.
It’s discouraging. But revolution never came from the masses always from the intelectual “elite”. The pyramid construction needs few mass to alter. That’s encouraging.
People are comparimentilised, work deformated and propagandized in their believe systems obviously. Herr Goebbels propaganda lessons have been improved dramaticaly since.